A powerful improvised explosive device (IED) planted by Maoists to harm troopers has been recovered by the security personnel from an insurgency-hit pocket in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district.

“The explosive, weighing around 15-20 kg, was unearthed by a joint team of security personnel near a culvert on Aundhi-Sharda Road under Aundhi police station limits,” Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police, Prashant Agarwal said.

Based on specific inputs, a joint squad of Special Task Force (STF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and district force launched an anti-Maoist operation towards Sarkheda, Sharda and Pendodi villages of Aundhi, located around 170 kms away from Raipur.

“When they (security personnel) were cordoning off the route, they spotted the IED placed in a steel container beneath the earth and 100-metre wire, near a culvert ahead of Sharda village,” the SP said.

The explosive was immediately neutralised by the bomb disposal squad (BDS), he added.

The bomb was meant to harm the security personnel during their operations in the region, he said.